Your Impact 2018-2019
The Culver Mission “Culver educates its students for leadership and responsible citizenship in society by developing and nurturing the whole individual – mind, spirit, and body – through integrated programs that emphasize the cultivation of character.”
Dear Friends of Culver, What connects the Culver family of alumni, students, campers, parents, faculty, staff, and friends? It’s our shared love of our school and our pride in adhering to a bold and important mission of educating the whole student for leadership and responsible citizenship. It is a network, a community, a family that takes care of its own. We thank you for your ongoing support. Dr. Doug Bird ’90 took over in June as Culver’s 14th Head of Schools. We recently celebrated the 100th Anniversary of the Woodcraft Drum & Bugle Corps. CMA welcomed a new Commandant of Cadets. CGA is well into preparations for its 50th anniversary celebration. Our outstanding faculty provide an excellent academic program and high support in extracurricular and residential life. Opportunities abound for students and campers to strengthen their character, be responsible for their actions, and learn independence and interdependence. We are achieving the right mix of tradition and innovation and are providing the perfect platform to support students in their quest for engagement and excellence in life. In these pages you will read stories about several members of our community. They are examples of what Culver has to offer its students and how these offerings come to life in our young people. For every story that you read, there are dozens more to be told. They demonstrate the impact of your investment. Thank you! Sincerely,
Miles D. White ’73 Chairman, Culver Educational Foundation Board of Trustees
“Life at Culver has to do with building habits around doing what is right all the time. You are defined by what you repeatedly do. Excellence and respect shouldn’t just be an act. They should be your habits. Culver lets you build those habits. I have to lead by example. I expect a lot of myself so I’m able to expect a lot out of those around me. We have students taking initiative to create a community that fosters sustainability, kindness, respect, and service. Student leaders see examples of disrespect and injustice and aren’t afraid to speak up. Leaders have the courage to correct their peers. You don’t see that a lot elsewhere.” Jed Henderson 2019 1st Make CMA Regimental Commander
“Summer at Culver is so special to me because of the different people who come together from all over the world to make friends and better themselves. We come together as units learning to follow and then lead. We bond as an entire community around the use and support of the Honor Code. You can trust the people around you and that’s what really builds the brotherhood [and sisterhood] of summer camp.” Eddie Becker 2019 Final Make CSSC Regimental Commander
“The one thing I appreciate about Culver is that the teachers understand that we aren’t just here for academics. While academics are our main priority, a lot of kids are coming here to cultivate their character, become better athletes, better musicians, better people in general. The teachers allow me to fail but they never allow me to be a failure. They give me whatever help I need. I’m forging my future with every decision I make. Everything is at my fingertips; I just need to push myself to go that extra step and take advantage of all the support.” Ava Dauer 2019 1st Rotation CGA Senior Prefect
Heather MacNab ’20 Ciel
“Nearly my entire family—going back several generations—has attended Culver,” says senior Heather MacNab, who hails from Carmel, Indiana. “I’ve grown up with Culver values.” Chief among those are the values of precision, resilience, and entrepreneurship, all of which Heather put into practice this past summer during a business internship running the on-campus Rubin Café during the Summer Schools & Camps term. “I am proud to say that I ran a business on my own the whole summer,” she says. “From finance and inventory, to staffing and even stepping in to make drinks when needed, I did it all. I had to be organized and precise. If there was a hiccup, I had to keep moving.” Heather, who is honoring in entrepreneurial studies, serves as an Aide to the Administration and Alumni. As such, she leads the entire school in All School Meetings every other week. She is also a talented athlete and student. These experiences, coupled with her business studies, helped to prepare her for the leadership challenges of running the café.
“The internship was hard work, but it was also the biggest learning experience of my life. I couldn’t have had that opportunity as a rising senior anywhere but Culver.”
Jen Cerny
Humanities Instructor “A lot of schools talk about teaching critical thinking,” says Jen Cerny, "at Culver, we’re actually doing it.” For the past six of her 20 years at Culver, Jen has taught an elective course to juniors and seniors on behavioral economics, or the science of perception, judgment, and decision-making. By examining the automatic and unconscious processes that influence conscious thought, students learn to identify flaws and biases in their own and other’s thinking and, over time, to enhance their critical thinking and argumentation skills. The class has been so successful that faculty clamored for their own version. She now leads faculty seminars during her free period two days a week. In all, 70 faculty and staff members have been through it. “Together we are learning to be more patient and better understand the obstacles to learning our students might be facing,” says Jen. “This improves the teacher-student relationship and gives us tools to support our students through their coursework.” “Every time I’m interested in trying something new, Culver says ‘yes,’” according to Jen. “I’m given a big sandbox in which to create, something that’s not universal in education. The fact that we have alumni and donors willing to step up and invest in faculty ideas makes it all possible. I don’t take one bit of that for granted.”
Greyson Mueller WC ’21 Division 5
Greyson has been traveling to Woodcraft Camp from his home in St. Louis, Missouri, for the past six years—and says he’s thrilled that he still has five more summers at Culver. “I love Culver,” he says. “It’s my home away from home. I love my Culver friends, my classes, the Council Fire, Lake Max, and competitions like the Kline Relay and swim meet. Culver has introduced me to new hobbies like air rifle and waterskiing. It has taught me life lessons and that there are many ways to lead.” Last summer, he put those leadership skills to good use, volunteering at a week long sleepaway camp for children with disabilities. “I volunteered because I love camp,” he says, “And I want everyone to be able to experience some type of it.” Greyson worked to prepare meals, set tables, deliver food to campers and their counselors, and do the cleanup and washing for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
“Everything we did was in service to the campers,” he explains, “just like what the Culver Honor Card says about leadership: have concern for the welfare of team members.”
Karen Rodriguez Gutierrez SS ’19 Deck 1
“When I first arrived at Woodcraft, all I knew how to say was, ‘My name is Karen. I don’t speak English,’ ” says Karen, a student in the Upper School from Bogota, Colombia. It was a challenging first summer, but with supportive staff and friends, Karen made it through. Looking back, she now says that her first summer was her best. Karen came to feel that she “was here for a reason.”
“I realized I had this opportunity to learn, to become a better person. The hard work involved made me understand that I can do anything. I can be a leader.” After six summers at Culver, she is now fluent in English. The leadership skills she gained at Culver impact every area of her life, from teaching her sisters at home to modeling the values on the Culver Honor Card—honesty, discipline, consideration, cooperation, and leadership—at her school in Bogota. Her time at Culver has also influenced her future plans: to be a math teacher in Colombia and, through teaching, inspire other young people to conquer their fears and become leaders. “Culver gave all of this to me,” she says. “Now I go on and share it with others.”
Noah Tan ’21 Band
He plays the violin, the clarinet, and the piano. In his spare time, he writes classical compositions, which he hopes to have published. He is the assistant conductor of the Culver Orchestra, filling in for the band director on occasion. When the military band needed a section leader, he taught himself to play the alto sax—in two weeks. All of this is to say that 2nd classman Noah Tan is, by any measure, a musically gifted young man who understands the intrinsic beauty and value of music, which he is now working relentlessly to share with other, less privileged children. Noah recently established the Note by Note Foundation, a student-led group that aims to make musical instruments, instruction, and performances available to young people in under-resourced communities. This 16-year-old is undaunted by the responsibility of acquiring nonprofit status, gaining exposure to community leaders who can help Note by Note get a foothold in local communities, raising funds and volunteers, and earning the respect of people who may be wary of a student-led organization.
“I have the drive and the desire to make this happen,” he says. “Culver has strengthened my abilities—to organize my time, to communicate effectively, to network, to keep going in the face of setbacks—so I can get things done.”
Ken Trickey
Division Commander, Summer Schools & Camps If you want to know what Culver is like—now or at any point during the past six decades—you might do well to ask Ken Trickey. Ken has seen it all. He first arrived on the shores of Lake Maxinkuckee as a child in the 1950s, when his father worked as a Division Commander and Counselor. The elder Trickey got his teenaged son a job on campus, and the rest is history. Ken will celebrate his 30th summer with Culver in 2020. He has worked as a Counselor, Division Commander, boy’s Battalion Commander, and Woodcraft Athletic Director, taking a 15-year hiatus to raise his young daughters, Caytlyn and Paige—both of whom are now camp alumni. So what keeps him coming back year after year? “Definitely the people,” he says, “both the staff and the kids. I’ve formed bonds that will last a lifetime.” Over the years, Ken has seen again and again what a summer at Culver can do for a child’s leadership skills, self-esteem, socialization, and work ethic.
“Whether they spend one summer here or nine,” he says, “Culver instills in boys and girls the sort of confidence and determination that leads to success as they grow into adulthood.” “Knowing we can have that kind of impact on someone,” he says, “that’s what drives my passion for Culver.”
Amina Shafeek-Horton ’20 Court
A member of Culver’s Diversity Council and co-president of the Black Student Union, Amina has made it her mission to share information—in this case, about the cultural values of Culver’s Chinese students—to help create a more welcoming and inclusive campus environment for all. Amina knows the difference that a supportive environment can make. That understanding—coupled with the fact that she has been studying Chinese since kindergarten—initially led her to want to know more about and improve the experience of Chinese students on campus. She has taken steps to gain insight into cultural norms and has created a plan to improve understanding of how these factors influence academic and residential life. “My goal is to foster cultural competence on campus, to take the pressure off individual minority students to feel they have to educate others independently.” So far, Amina thinks her efforts are paying off. She has seen awareness growing and interaction increasing between clubs like the Black Student Union, the Diversity Council, and Debating American Topics.
“People are talking about the hot issues, sharing perspectives, opening minds. This is progress,” she says. “When you have knowledge, you have the power to change.”
Kailer “Kai” Suerth SS ’19 Aviation
“I like to tell people that I live in Hawaii, but I learned to sail a boat in Indiana,” laughs Kailer, a 1st Classman in the Upper School who has been coming to Culver for the past three summers. Kai credits Culver with helping him to develop his leadership skills and realizing that he is capable of great success. “From the struggles, the accomplishments, and the lifelong friendships,” he says, “Culver has enabled my personal growth at an exponential rate. In a single summer, I did things I never thought I could achieve in a lifetime!” One of those achievements—besides learning to sail a boat—was taking his first solo flight as a member of the Aviation unit. “The aviation program gives you a strong sense of competence and courage. There’s always a chance that the worst can happen, but you learn to remain calm and immerse yourself in the feeling that you know what you have to do and you’re capable of executing it.” Culver has also deepened Suerth’s awareness of the value of being a servant-leader. He regularly volunteers in community service events benefiting Gold Star families and wounded veterans at home in Hawaii.
“By using what I’ve learned at Culver, I can be both a leader and a servant, and I do it with an overwhelming sense of joy and passion.”
Mike Gianforcaro ’20 Company C
Looking back, Mike admits that he found the military aspect of Culver a little mystifying as a prospective student. Like so much else in his life, however, he committed fully once here on campus. “As a new cadet,” he recalls, “I looked at my Company C leaders and thought, ‘I’m going to follow their lead. I am going to dive right in and do my best.’” And he did, passing his boards the week before Christmas break that first year. He was promoted to Team Leader soon after. Mike’s “do your best” mentality has touched every aspect of his life at Culver. This year, he has earned the position of Unit Commander for Company C, he was co-captain of the Prep Lacrosse team as a 2nd classman, and he has been recognized for his academic achievement. He will matriculate to Princeton University in the fall, where he has been recruited to play goalie for the lacrosse team.
“My experiences at Culver—military life, academics, lacrosse—have strengthened my confidence in doing what I set out to do. I’ve watched the upperclassmen in positions above me, and from them, I’ve learned what it takes to succeed and what it means to be a leader people listen to and respect.”
Kevin Danti
Humanities Instructor “Teaching is a lot like blacksmithing,” says teacher and football coach Kevin Danti. “You have this amazing raw material that you then get to shape.” For Kevin, “shaping’” students means building a classroom culture that emphasizes inquiry, conversation, and personal leadership. “Culver students are a highly motivated bunch. In the classroom, we’re creating this culture where everyone contributes. Everyone has something to offer and to teach. They’re even teaching me, especially when it comes to technology!” Kevin is putting the finishing touches on a new archeology course that will focus on discovery and problem-solving in a field lab-type of setting. The course will span disciplines—bringing together humanities, mathematics, the sciences, fine arts, and possibly others to encourage students to look at a problem from multiple angles and to, always, keep asking questions. “We aren’t looking to educate young people just to know the facts without any framework,” Kevin says. “We’re not interested in creating robots."
“What we want are individuals, leaders who can infuse any situation they encounter with their own creativity, intelligence, and perspective.”
Donor Feature: Class of 1968 The Class of 1968 had an endowed scholarship in place since 1991. It honored the memory of a deceased classmate, Gordon “Gordie� O. Delk. Since its inception, classmates have raised more than $1.5 million for their scholarship endowment. On the occasion of their 50th reunion, the class changed the name to serve as a memorial for all of their deceased classmates. The Class of 1968 Memorial Scholarship provides financial aid to students in CMA and CGA with the intent of providing a means through education to help create equal opportunity for those who would otherwise not be able to attend Culver. This extraordinary financial support ensures that students from a wider range of socio-economic backgrounds arrive on campus each fall. To encourage generational attendance, preference is given to young people who are legacies of the Class of 1968.
Scholarships open doors and transform lives. We are grateful for all the individuals and classes that have established funds to support financial aid and, ultimately, our students. You are making a difference!
Financial Facts We appreciate the financial support provided by our alumni, parents, faculty, staff and friends of Culver. The following summary of the financial data will give you a glimpse into how we are stewarding your generosity. Summary of Financial Facts (in millions) Fiscal Year Ending June 30
2019
2018
2017
Assets
$604
$586
$548
Liabilities
$85
$80
$87
Unrestricted net assets
$51
$41
$24
Restricted net assets
$468
$465
$437
Market value of endowment and funds functioning as endowment
$459
$443
$423
CEF Summary of Expenses (000's) 2019-20 Budget $66,167 Administrative Compensation and Benefits 15%
Facilities and Utilities 11%
CEF Summary of Revenue (000's) 2019-20 Budget $66,167 Tuition & Fees 54% (net of scholarship/ financial aid/discounts)
Other Expenses 10%
Endowment Draw 31% Student Programs and Services 19%
Academic and Student Life Compensation and Benefits 45%
Other Income 7%
In 2018-2019, just over half of our Culver Fund (of $5.5 million) was raised through gifts of $100 or less. Every gift matters!
Culver Fund 8%
Education is the most powerful investment in our future. You inspire excellence, build character, prepare leaders, and develop intellect and critical thinking through your support of Culver. Did You Know? • More than 2,100 students and campers came to Culver last year from near and far: 46 states and 43 countries! • Financial assistance is available in both boarding and summer school, making a Culver experience possible for hundreds of young people each year. • Of the 108 faculty members in the boarding school, 94 hold master’s degrees or greater. Twenty-two faculty hold doctoral or terminal degrees. • Seventy-five members of the 2019 summer staff have supported the students and campers for five or more years. One staff member has 68 years of work experience at Culver! • Gifts to the Culver Fund support financial aid, faculty/staff salaries, and the programs that make Culver unique. • Nearly half of Culver’s annual expenses are covered by gifts from our donors – alumni, family, friends – YOU!
Dear Culver Friends, It has been our pleasure to share stories of your impact on Culver. It is because of you that students and campers graduate from Culver ready to take on the challenges of the world with strong academic and leadership skills that are grounded in good character. We are dedicated to providing our students and campers with the resources and support they need to achieve these goals. Your gifts are gratefully received and carefully administered to accomplish this important work at Culver. I continue to be inspired by the deep affinity our alumni/ae, families, and friends have for Culver. People across all generations come together, dedicating their time, resources, and talents to ensure Culver’s strength, momentum, and continuation of the mission. A heartfelt thanks to each of you for the difference you are making with your gifts. With gratitude,
Holly Johnson Chief Advancement Officer
Your Generosity Changes Lives.
Thank You!